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Postseason opportunity

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EXETER - It has been almost a year since Wyoming Area senior Nick Heck felt like he had been robbed blind.

Last Feb. 21, Heck noticed a string of acne-like marks on his neck. He immediately feared the worse, as six cases of Herpes gladiatorum - also known as "mat herpes" - had been made public at Lake-Lehman High School.

Heck went to his doctor, who diagnosed the condition before it became contagious. But three days later, on the day of the District 2 Championships, Heck returned to the doctor. He was contagious. Competing at districts, where he had been named the top seed at 138 pounds ... out of the question. Qualifying for the Northeast Regionals and the PIAA Championships ... that would have to wait another year.

"He was devastated," said Anthony Heck, Nick's father and a Warriors' assistant coach. "Unfortunately, it would not have been an issue any other week of the season. We might have missed a couple of matches and moved on from there, but the timing of it, with districts coming up. .. he came out as the top seed. He was crushed."

The Monday following districts, Heck's doctor cleared him to wrestle. Too late. He traveled to Williamsport the following weekend to watch teammates Carm Mauriello and Andy Schutz compete at regionals. Heck brought his gear to Williamsport and did some drills with head coach Steve Mytych, but he left the tournament with a hollow feeling. Why me? Why now?

"I really wanted to be out there, but I still had to root on Andy and Carm and hope they got it done," Heck said. "Schutz (qualified for states), so I was happy for him, but at the same time, I wanted to be out there to wrestle for my shot to go to states."

Heck says he got over the disappointment soon after the season ended, immediately getting to back to work and wrestling on the offseason tournament circuit. He went 2-2 at the NHSCA Nationals in Virginia Beach and placed sixth at the Eastern Nationals in Salisbury, Md.

"I think, in many ways, it has made him a stronger person and a stronger athlete on the mat," Mytych said. "I think he has a little chip on his shoulder. I give Nick credit for handling it the way he did, very calm and collected."

While Heck insists he is over it, the anger is evident when discussing the end of last season. The mat herpes outbreak affected the entire Wyoming Valley Conference, but Heck received the shortest end of the stick.

"Of course it's used as motivation to work harder and get better," said Heck, who still takes antibiotics to prevent future outbreaks. "But it didn't slow me down at all. It only, if anything, helped."

As a sophomore, Heck had a 23-16 record as a 119-pounder and did not qualify for regionals. One year and 19 pounds later, he was 21-7 before misfortune struck. And that's what galls Heck. He busted his hump to become a viable championship contender and had nothing to show for it.

"You just have to keep moving on, Heck said. "There's nothing you can do about it now. It's over. It's done. The mistakes have been made, and I had to pay for them. I just have to wrestle."

Heck is 24-1 and has emerged as one of the WVC's top wrestlers. Qualifying for regionals is expected, and states is a distinct possibility. The pressure, though, is tremendous. At this point of the season, fine-tuning the mind is just as important as strengthening the body.

"I'm sure for him, being a senior in high school, he's putting a little more pressure on himself," Anthony Heck said. "I've tried not to let him do that. There's enough pressure going on. Stress can be one way (to cause another outbreak), so I've told him, 'just focus on the wrestling.'"

The postseason begins Friday with the District 2 Championships at Lake-Lehman, the first of what Heck hopes will be three consecutive tournament weekends, ending with the PIAA Championships at the Giant Center in Hershey.

Heck's family has already made hotel reservations.

"I'm pretty excited, anticipating it a lot," Heck said. "Just looking forward to getting it done and proving to everybody what should have happened last year."

Almost a year to the day since Heck's wrestling dreams were shattered, he will finally get his shot. That is all he ever wanted.

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